The purpose of this application is to request funds for the Society for Biomaterials (USA) to help organize and participate in the 12th International Biomaterials Symposium (First World Congress on Biomaterials) to be held in Baden, Austria, April 8-12, 1980. This symposium is being jointly organized by the Society for Biomaterials (USA), the European Society for Biomaterials and the Biomaterials Group of the Biological Engineering Society (UK). The Biomaterials Symposium, generally regarded as the most important meeting in the field of biomaterials, will involve over 150 technical presentations and 50 poster presentations. Previous symposia, held in the United States, have had strong representation from the countries of Western Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada, India, and the Middle East. The 12th International Biomaterials Symposium should represent a truly international forum for the exchange of ideas in this growing field. Of the preceding Symposia, NIDR has been the sponsor of seven. The biomaterials field is highly interdisciplinary in nature. The emphasis of the Symposium will be on bringing together into constructive dialogue clinicians, biologists, chemists, engineers, and manufacturers. Technical sessions will encompass a wide range of disciplines including dental materials, maxillofacial prosthetics, materials behavior, toxicology and tissue behavior, suture and tissue adhesives, plastic and reconstructive surgery, orthopaedics, cardiovascular surgery, blood behavior, opthalmologic materials, artificial organs, drug delivery systems, and safety and regulation of biomaterial devices. Each day's program will begin with an invited plenary paper by an outstanding investigator in the relevant field. This will be followed by a series of submitted papers organized into thematic sesssions. The submitted papers will be chosen by blind review. Criteria for selection will include scientific merit, overall medical relevance, and interdisciplinary communication. All accepted papers will be collected in a printed Transactions volume. The sponsor (e.g. NIDR) will be prominently acknowledged in the program and Transactions and in all announcements to technical journals in the U.S. and abroad.